A Christmas Kiss, a Lifetime of Memories
by jadeb
Summary: Ichigo found a book that Rukia has hided on the day they share their very first Christmas together. A book filled with memories of their very first kiss and Rukia’s confession. oneshot IchiRuki


_It's 4 something in the morning right now and I suddenly have the inspiration to write this story and I am too tired to keep my eyes open to proofread for any mistakes, so please forgive me and enjoy the fic for its plot._

_Disclaimer: Unfortunately for me, Bleach belongs to Kubo Tite, so I can't take any credit for the characters and whatnot. But the plot is mine… copy it and you're going to be struck by lightening and burn in hell. Hehehe j/k…. or maybe I'm not…_

_EDIT: Thank you kittikat and her beta for proofreading my fic for any mistakes.

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_The Present Time_

"Ichigo, what are you doing?" Rukia asked, walking down the stairs in her yellow striped pajamas. "It's" one in the morning and you must be tired.

Shouldn't you be sleeping after what we went through in Hueco Mundo to save Orihime?"

"Don't worry about me Rukia, just go back to sleep. Your wounds still haven't fully healed yet," Ichigo said, his back turned to her.

Rukia ignored Ichigo's advice and walked over to him to see what he was so concentrated on doing.

"Don't tell me you stay up this late just to put up some weird looking tree that's not even real, and messing around with some stringy looking thing with light bulbs stuck on them."

"For your information, this is called a Christmas tree and this weird stringy looking thing is called Christmas lights." Ichigo rolled his eyes and continued to ignored Rukia and focus on untangling the Christmas lights. "Dammit!" Ichigo swore as he continued to struggle with the lights.

"Oh, just give me that." Rukia grabbed the strings of lights from Ichigo and started to untangle it with little to no effort. "So what is this Christmas tree thing you are talking about?"

Ichigo sighed and thought to himself. 'Oh here we go again with one of Rukia's many questions about the human's world.'

"Well, a Christmas tree is a decorated tree that people put up every Christmas to signify something that I have no idea to."

Rukia raised a delicate eyebrow, giving Ichigo a confused look.

"And just to let you know, Christmas is a holiday where people celebrate the birth of Jesus, a God that you probably have never heard about. But nowadays, since so many people and cultures, with different beliefs, also celebrate Christmas, it has become more than just a holiday to celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ. It has become a holiday of giving and sharing and spending time with the people you love and care about."

Rukia lowered her gaze and smiled sadly. "Is that the reason why you're doing this, Ichigo, even though is so late? Rukia asked. "You want to do this and spend whatever time you have left with your family before the war?" Rukia didn't know why, but there seems to be a lump in her throat and it was hard for her to utter those words even though she knew it was true.

Ichigo stopped what he was doing and looked at Rukia, who was now crouching on the floor with her arms wrapped around her legs, looking at the strings of lights that were no longer tangled. "I guess you can say that," he whispered, sitting down next to her.

"I'm sorry Ichigo, if I have never met you, then you wouldn't have to go through…" Before Rukia could finish her sentence, Ichigo stopped her by putting his finger on her lips.

"Is not your fault; if anything, I have you to thank. If it wasn't for you, I wouldn't be able to gain the power to protect my family and friends."

"But!"

"No buts," Ichigo commanded, "Just shut up and help me put all these decorations up." And just as Ichigo expected from bossing her around like that, Rukia knocked him in the head.

Jumping to her feet, Rukia placed her hands on her hips and shouted in the lowest tone she could muster, so she wouldn't wake up the whole family. "And who the hell died and made you the boss?"

"Fine, don't help me. See if I care," Ichigo grabbed the lights from Rukia and started wrapping them around the tree.

Rukia rolled her eyes and walked over to the Christmas tree, following whatever

Ichigo was doing. She would do her part by decorating the lower part of the tree where she could reach, while Ichigo would do the top. After hours of

Contemplating, or more like arguing, how the tree should be decorated, they were finally done, except for the very top of the tree, which was missing a star.

"Here," Ichigo shoved something into Rukia's hand. "Take this."

Rukia looked at it and then at Ichigo. "I don't think there's anymore space on the tree for me to put up this star," Rukia said, looking for an empty space to hang it.

"No baka!" Ichigo exclaimed. "You're supposed to place this on the very top of the tree."

"Shut up and don't called me stupid!" Rukia shouted back.

Ichigo scratched his head in frustration. "I didn't call you stupid. I called you a baka."

"It's the same thing," Rukia argued back.

"No it's not!"

"Yes it is!"

"Urg," Ichigo growled and suddenly grabbed Rukia by the legs and hoisted her up to the tree.

"Ichigo!" Rukia shrieked, "What the hell are you doing?"

"Just. Shut. Up. And. Place. The. Star. On. The. Tree." Ichigo said between clinched teeth.

Rukia turned her head away from Ichigo and placed the star on the tree, hiding the smile that was pasted on her face. As much as she would deny it, Rukia really did enjoy their little moments of arguing and who knows how many more opportunities, or time do they have left to fight like this.

"Any time this year, Rukia," Ichigo hurried her, trying to ignore the heat on his cheeks. It wasn't like she was heavy or anything. Heck, the girl only weighed around 80 something pounds, but Ichigo only just realized that Rukia's ass was in front of his face and dammit, he swore to God that he was not looking at it. He was not a pervert like Keigo, so why was he blushing if he wasn't looking at it? "Rukia what is taking you so long?"

"Well, I would have gotten down if someone wasn't so busy whining and actually let go of me," Rukia said, rolling her eyes and crossing her arms.

"Oh." Ichigo blushed and gently placed Rukia down to the ground in front of him. They were standing so close to each other and unknowingly, Ichigo leaned closer to her; so close that he could smell the shampoo in her hair.

Without any warning, Rukia suddenly turned around and their lips touched. Time seemed to have frozen at that very moment. Neither one of them made a move as they just stared at each other and just as unexpectedly as the kiss was, they both jumped back and looked around anywhere in the room but at each other. Rukia was the first to speak and it took all her self-control to not fluster with her lines and find the words to yell at him. "What the hell Ichigo, why are you standing so close to me!"

"Shut up. Is your fault you turned around as if you seen a ghost or something!" Ichigo shouted, still looking at something else in the room and refusing to let Rukia see that he was blushing from just a mere kiss. God forbid if she got any idea, thinking that this was the first time he has kissed a girl, even though it is, not counting the time that Kon was in his body and kissed Tatsuki.

"I just wanted to ask you what this little thing is. I found it stuck on top of the Christmas tree." Rukia stuck out her hand to show him a little bundle of mistletoe.

"Oh that," Ichigo blushed. "It's nothing, just some berries."

"Oh, can I eat it?" Rukia asked almost placing it in her mouth.

Right away Ichigo grabbed it from her. "No!" he shouted. "They're for kissing, not eating." Ichigo blushed again, realizing what he just shouted out and probably waking up the whole family. Ichigo swore that he must have looked like a tomato by then.

Rukia also blushed, but she didn't say anything and just stared at the mistletoe in Ichigo's hand. Then without saying a word, she took it from

Ichigo and started climbing up the stairs to the girl's room.

"Rukia where are you taking that thing?"

"You said this was for kissing. Well you already got your kiss, no need to keep this around." Rukia told him just before closing the door to the girl's room.

Once in the girl's room, Rukia quietly walked over to the bookshelves where the girls stored their mangas and where Rukia would also store all the books that she took from Ichigo. Grabbing one of Ichigo's heavy books that was written by some guy named Shakespear, Rukia place the mistletoe in the middle of it and wrote some comments on it just before closing it and putting it back on the shelf.

_9 Years Later_

Ichigo watched as Chad and Ishida helped him carried the bookshelves that was in the girl's bedroom and sighed. Finally. It took the whole day to move everything from the old house and putting it on the truck to bring to their new home that he had brought for his family after graduating from medical school and becoming a doctor. It has been a long day, but it was finally over. As he looked around in the empty house that he and his sisters grew up in, Ichigo couldn't help but feel like he was leaving a part of him behind. So much had happened when he lived here and so many memories were born here, but living here and living in his room was too much for him. Everyone told him that he should move on, but it was hard to not think about her, when just walking into his room would fill him with memories that he can never forget, no matter how hard he tried. And so he did the only thing that he could think of. Maybe, just maybe, if he left this place and never saw it again, he could finally let go of the past, but most importantly, let go of her. How many years had it been since the last time he had seen her face as she lay in his arms, her body covered in blood and slowly fading away from them, from him? As his eyes started to sting from the tears that were forming, Ichigo blinked it back and ran his hand through his hair. Everyone had moved on, even Renji, so now it was his turn.

"Ichi-nii," Karin called out, waking him from his reverie.

"Oh Karin, what is it?" Ichigo asked. "Are you done packing all your belongings?"

"Yeah, but I still have some books left in the room. Do you mind grabbing them for me?"

"Sure, just tell Chad to go ahead and take everything to the new house. I have to check to see if we forgot anything and I'll be there with your books when I'm done," Ichigo told Karin.

"Okay Ichi-nii, but don't take too long. Yuzu is already there making dinner."

"Yeah," Ichigo said quietly, walking up to the girl's room.

Walking over to all the books that were scattered on the floor, Ichigo gathered them and started stacking them up. It was just then that he saw his red Shakespeare's book that he thought he lost so very long ago. Picking it up, he felt a lump and opened the book to see what was stuck inside. Then he saw it. There it lay, gently on the pages of the book. It was no longer the bright green color that he remembered, but it was still as lively as it ever was, at least to him. Running his finger over it, Ichigo could hear little droplets of tears as they fell onto the book, soaking the pages. Taking the dried mistletoe gently in his hand, as if it was a precious Jewel, Ichigo ran his other hand over the words that were written on the page. It read: "Rukia's very first Christmas, Ichigo's very first kiss, and the happiest day of Rukia's life."

Ichigo let his body fall to the ground as he leaned his head against the wall, not bothering to stop his body from trembling as he cried for the very first time after nine years; not since the day she has left him forever. As he held the mistletoe still gently in his hand by his side, Ichigo hugged the book to his chest and wept. He was a fool; Kurosaki Ichigo was a fool to think he could forget her. How could he forget someone who still lived in his heart everyday and her very images and every memories that they shared were carved into his very soul? He was really a fool, for only a fool would attempt to do the impossible and only a fool would try to forget something so beautiful and so precious. He was really a fool, a helpless fool still living in the past and chasing memories, memories of a precious shinigami.


End file.
